Invictus

The time has come now... the dragons rise from their slumber

I too must pick up my sword and shield and earn my place among them

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

for my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced or cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how the straight the gate,

How charged the punishment the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Invictus

William Ernest Henley